Train to Paris
Today, it’s a long day travelling from Cherbourg to Istanbul. It started with an alarm at 0450 for the 0549 train from Cherbourg station which got me to Paris St Lazare around 0900.
I thought the best way to Charles de Gaulle airport would be on the Roissybus and E had concurred, especially because I’m departing from Terminal 1 whereas the train would only stop at Terminal 2 and then I’d have to take an automated inter-terminal rail connection.
Bus to Airport
After grabbing a sandwich at the station Carrefour, it was only 10 mins walking to the bus stop near the Opera Garnier. The bus was waiting and closed up around 0930, getting me to the airport at 1015.
The hassles begin
Everything seemed magically coordinated but this is when things started. The Turkish Airlines counters were closed but staffed, suggesting that they would open soon. I later realised that they had just finished the last flight which I had just missed. I’m on a standby ticket today and can take any the several Turkish flights.
When check-in opened an hour later, I was asked to wait for a couple of hours for check-in to close before they could accept standbys. I was relieved to get my boarding pass around 1300 but the flight had been delayed from 1410 to 1520.
Getting airside was a breeze today apart from the somewhat long walk to my gate.
Airside, the aircraft turned up but we were told of another delay to 1630. Around 1600, refreshments and sandwiches were provided before boarding commenced slightly later. We ended up departing at 1715.
All-in-all, I had spent about 7h at the airport and on the plane before departure! That’s on top of the 3h on the train and 3h on the flight.
Global IT meltdown
Today, a global IT meltdown had occurred due to an update that had gone awry in Windows. It was attributed to Crowdstrike, something I had yet to read up on. Here’s a link from Wikipedia on the subject.
It had affected airlines (more budget airlines as they use Windows more perhaps), banks, hospitals and a wide range of industries.
Arriving in Istanbul
With roughly a 3h delay, we landed around 2200. It was a good flight except that I had never seen so many flies on board an aircraft! It had been a very hot day in Paris and I suppose they were really buzzing today and joined the aircraft during its extended turnaround.
It had been a long day and to add insult to injury it took 40 mins from touchdown at Istanbul to passport control, seated at the last row of the A330 and parked at one of the furthest gates.
The passport queues were up to the end of the snaking barrier but took only 15 mins. With accommodation booked at Arnavutkoy, at the Intercity Hotel, the idea was to take a bus.
It was quite a wait till the next bus so I took a yellow taxi for TRY250 (NZD12.50), slightly cheaper than the Uber price. To my surprise, the driver assigned from the queue didn’t make any grumpy faces for having been given a short ride rather than a more lucrative one to the city.
At the hotel, the receptionist kindly offered me a late check-out till 1600 tomorrow morning. It was a nice ending to long day.